Wiggins - Tour 'where it's at'

Bradley Wiggins says he may consider opting out of Great Britain's team for London 2012 in order to concentrate on the Tour de France.

Last Updated: 20/07/09 4:45pm

Bradley Wiggins has hinted that he may consider opting out of Great Britain's team for the London 2012 Olympic Games in order to concentrate on competing in the Tour de France.

The 29-year-old Garmin-Slipstream rider moved up to third in the overall standings of this year's race on Sunday after producing a storming display on stage 15 to finish third alongside Frank Schleck and reigning champion Carlos Sastre.

Wiggins now sits just one minute 46 seconds behind yellow jersey occupier Alberto Contador with less than a week to go.

Having last competed on the Tour two years ago, Wiggins has since gained greater recognition on the Olympic stage having taken two gold medals as part of the British team that tore up the velodrome in Beijing last summer.

He also took gold at Athens in 2004 although thoughts of even more Olympic success in three years' time appear to have been dulled in light of his ongoing exploits.

Wiggins told Cycling Weekly: "The last two weeks has shown me what I want to do for the next four years of my life.

"The Olympics are fantastic for the two weeks they're on every four years, but the Tour de France is where it's at."

But UK Sport's performance director Peter Keen has responded by saying that Britain's Olympic team would not necessarily miss Wiggins, pointing out that there was enough talent coming through the ranks.

Keen, himself a former performance director of British Cycling, said: "I think it's an incredible achievement so far, it's incredibly exciting for British cycling and I hope it's a breakthrough for the sport.

"If I had seen Bradley three weeks ago and he would have told me he would be in third place with a week to go I would not have been entirely convinced.

"The 2012 Olympics start less than two weeks after the Tour so there are real challenges there.

"But whatever Bradley does, we understand there are other cyclists who will be able to come through - the system is there."

The race resumes on Tuesday with stage 16, which takes the riders 159 kilometres from Martigny to Bourg-Saint-Maurice via the north-west corner of Italy.